Piranha (1978)
|language = English |budget = $600.000 |gross = $6 million (USA) $10 million (international) |followed_by = Piranha II: The Spawning}} Piranha is a 1978 American B movie about a swarm of killer piranhas. It was directed and co-edited by Joe Dante and starred Bradford Dillman, Heather Menzies, Kevin McCarthy, Keenan Wynn, Barbara Steele, and Dick Miller. Produced by Roger Corman, Piranha is a parody of the 1975 film Jaws, which had been a major success for distributor Universal Studios and director Steven Spielberg, and inspired a series of similarly themed B movies such as Grizzly, Tintorera, Tentacles, Orca, Monster Shark and Great White . Piranha was followed by a sequel, Piranha II: The Spawning, in 1981, and two remakes, one in 1995, and another in 2010, which spawned its own sequel in 2012. Plot While Paul and Maggie investigate the disappearance of two teenagers they stumble upon an abandoned military research facility Paul heard about. They find the belongings of the teenagers there. Convinced that they were at the pool and didn´t get out, they let the water go away to investigate without a corresponding judicial order to make things faster. A scientist, who lives there, tries to prevent this from happening, but is overpowered by them. After that they look into the pool and find a skeleton. Later the scientist tells them they have released flesh-eating piranhas into the river, that he was breeding with the consentment of the government. They deduce the teenagers wanted to bath in the pool and were eaten by the prianhas and realise they will continue to eat people along the river unless they are stopped. They then begin to eat people as it is expected for them to was expected. The scientist Dr. Hoak is also killed while saving a boy. Maggie and Paul must limit the damage they caused through their action by doing everything they can to stop them from reaching the ocean once they realise they can also survive in it, where they would then swim around the world and infiltrate the corresponding river systems having to fight the military on the way who are obsessed in maintaining the piranhas a secret with the intent of using them in a possible future to the extent of endangering the people there. Cast *Bradford Dillman as Paul Grogan *Heather Menzies as Maggie McKeown *Kevin McCarthy as Dr. Robert Hoak *Keenan Wynn as Jack *Dick Miller as Buck Gardner *Barbara Steele as Dr. Mengers *Belinda Balaski as Betsy *Melody Thomas Scott as Laura Dickinson *Bruce Gordon as Colonel Waxman *Barry Brown as a Trooper *Paul Bartel as Mr. Dumont *Shannon Collins as Suzie Grogan *Shawn Nelson as Whitney Gallery images1000.jpg index0101.jpg piranha.jpg images10018.jpg images10019.jpg images10022.jpg images10023.jpg images10016.jpg Reception Based on reviews from 25 critics collected by the film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 72% gave Piranha a positive review. Steven Spielberg called it "the best of the Jaws ripoffs". Release The film was released theatrically in the United States by New World Pictures in August 1978. Given the proximity to Jaws 2, Universal Pictures had considered an injunction, but Spielberg convinced them otherwise. In 2004, New Concorde Home Entertainment released the film on special edition DVD. This version is currently out of print. In 2010, Shout! Factory re-released Piranha on DVD and Blu-ray. Remakes Piranha was first remade in 1995, and this version was also produced by Roger Corman and originally debuted on Showtime. It used footage from the original for certain sequences. Another remake of the 1978 film is directed by Alexandre Aja, who again works with filmmaking partner Grégory Levasseur; the two have worked on other genre films as well, including the 2006 remake, The Hills Have Eyes. Distributor Dimension Films' Bob Weinstein told Variety, "We will maintain the fun and thrilling aspects of the original film, but look forward to upping the ante with a modern-day twist." Piranha 3D was theatrically released in the United States. Dimension had been developing the remake of the 1978 Joe Dante film Piranha for over a year. It intended to have Chuck Russell, who previously reworked the 1988 version of The Blob, direct the film before taking on Alexandre Aja. Aja will rewrite a previous script from Josh Stolberg and Pete Goldfinger. Aja explains, "My goal is not to remake Piranha, but to create a completely new adventure paying homage to all the creature films ... I am very proud to follow the path of Joe Dante and James Cameron in the Piranha franchise and look forward to working with Greg Levasseur to write, produce, and direct such a fun and gory thrill ride."The film's cast includes Elisabeth Shue, Christopher Lloyd, Richard Dreyfus, Adam Scott, and Jerry O'Connell. Videos External links * * * * Category:1978 films Category:Films of the 1970s Category:New World Pictures